Cobalt carbonyl compounds including dicobalt octacarbonyl, cobalt hydrocarbonyl, etc., as such or in modified forms, are known for their use as catalysts for a variety of reactions relating to olefinic unsaturated organic compounds including the hydroformylation (oxonation) of olefins, isomerization of olefins, carbonylation of amines and aromatic nitriles, hydrosilation of olefins and the like. These catalyst complexes are subject to substantial limitations in that unless carbon monoxide pressures in excess of equilibrium values are maintained in their presence, these compounds destructively dissociate into cobalt metal and residue. Catalytic activity is thus lost and cobalt metal is plated-out on reactor walls and associated transfer piping. From time to time the accumulated metal must be removed by a suitable means, often by the use of aqueous nitric acid or a similar undesirably corrosive and inconvenient agent.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a method for the stabilization of cobalt carbonyl complex compounds, thereby substantially reducing cobalt metal deposition on the surfaces of reaction vessels and associated lines.
Another object of the invention is to provide a method for the stabilization of cobalt carbonyl complex compounds, thereby permitting their effective use as catalysts at lower carbon monoxide pressures and at higher temperatures than may be satisfactorily employed under conventional hydroformylation reaction conditions.
Another object of the invention is to provide a method to inhibit the plating-out of cobalt metal on the surfaces of a system containing cobalt carbonyl complex compounds from the destructive dissociation of cobalt carbonyl complex compounds.
Still another objective is the provision of an improved hydroformylation process in which alcohol is produced in a single-stage process by the reaction of an olefinic hydrocarbon with carbon monoxide and hydrogen in the presence of a cobalt carbonyl catalyst and facilitated by added azoxy-dentated chelation ligands. Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the ensuing detailed description thereof.